The Life and Times of a Preppy Golden Retriever Puppy

Month: May 2017

Since it was such a beautiful day yesterday (yay!!!) my daughter and I decided to take Aspen on a nice, long walk down by the river. On our way home, Aspen spotted this path to the water:

Apparently she thought it looked quite inviting because when I tried to continue down the walking path, she did this:

This is her new trick when she doesn’t want to go somewhere. She sits down and drapes her paw over her leash. That is her, “No, Mom! I don’t want to go that way!” signal. I told her I understood that as a retriever, she has an inherent love of the water, but that I have an inherent love of staying on schedule and we really needed to be getting home. Well, Aspen’s an adaptable dog. If she couldn’t go in the river, I guess she figured she’d have to make do with this:

By the time I got her out and home, she looked like this:

Memo to self: Next time, just let the dog go in the river. It will save you time in the long-run!

All too often, there often isn’t much in politics or the news to make people smile but here is a story I think all dog lovers can get behind. Employees at the Interior Department were invited to bring their dogs to work yesterday, and 85 four-legged friends accompanied their politician parents, sleeping under desks and attending various meetings. The result was, predictably, adorable and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke hopes to expand the program. Dogs may not make the government run more smoothly or effectively, but they sure would make it a lot cuter and more fun!

Our next-door neighbors adopted two sweet kittens about a year ago, and Aspen has spent that last year trying desperately to go visit them. As tends to happen with girls who come on a little too strong, however, she kept getting rebuffed. Over and over again. Until yesterday, this happened. A moment of inter-species rapprochement. Right after I snapped this photo of peace and harmony, however, Aspen got a little over-excited and started doing her puppy dance, which the cat had absolutely no interest in witnessing. He promptly jumped the fence and the moment was over, but hey, at least it could be the start of a new friendship and made for a cute photo op in the meantime.